For a variety of reasons there are occasions when tubular structures such as casings and production tubing, for example, positioned downhole in wellbores need to be cut. Some examples are for removal of a damaged section of tubing or to provide a window for diagonal drilling.
Cutters have been developed that have rotating portions with knives that are pivoted radially outwardly to engage the inner surface of the tubular structure to perform a cut. Such cutters have a multitude of pivoting joints, cams and actuators that interact to rotate the knives between the noncutting and cutting configurations. The complexity of such cutters increases fabrication costs and potential failure modes.
Accordingly, the art is in need of less complex cutting tools.